Our Oops Moment: Sen. Herb Kohl Still a Millionaire, Not Millions of Dollars in Debt

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been taking heat for forgetting one of the Cabinet-level departments that he would cut during a recent GOP presidential debate, but, honestly, everyone makes mistakes from time to time.

Because of a data entry error on the part of the Center, as well as confusion stemming from unclear footnotes on the financial disclosure form of Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Kohl was originally listed in our annual study of congressional wealth, which was published Tuesday, as the poorest member of Congress.

We regret these errors, but a ludicrous system makes the potential for such errors all too likely.

Congressional personal financial disclosure forms can be complex and confusing.

And what makes the business of monitoring these reports worse: members of Congress are not even required to electronically file them, let alone complete them using a computer.

Watchdogs, members of the press or concerned citizens can download “PDF” files of House members’ filings, but if you want to see a senator’s report, you must journey up to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to visit the Senate Office of Public Records. If you want to take a copy of the report with you, you must pay for the public records — which is something the Center does so you don’t have to.

In his 2010 filing, Kohl reported nine liabilities totaling between $101 million and $280 million.

Most of these are liabilities are listed as liabilities of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team which, as the owner, Kohl is required to report.

One promissory note, however — with a value between $5 million and $25 million — is listed as debt between Kohl and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Kohl’s staff explained to the Center’s team what nothing on the form itself made crystal clear: that including the inter-company promissory note between Kohl and the Bucks in any calculations would amount to double counting — and that the reporting rules require the debt to be listed twice.

Additionally, a footnote on Kohl’s filing notes that one of these liabilities — a seven-year promissory note, which was also valued between $5 million and $25 million — “matured” in 2010, meaning it had been repaid. The Center’s researchers had initially missed this.

Thus, in reality, Kohl’s liabilities amount to just seven — with a range of values between $91 million and $230 million. These changes lead to Kohl’s average estimate net worth increasing to $173.5 million — not the negative $18 million as originally reported.

Here at the Center for Responsive Politics, we always seek to learn from our mistakes and take steps to prevent such errors in the future.

We also advocate for the passage of H.R. 2340, the Transparency in Government Act of 2011, sponsored by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), which would require not only the quarterly reporting of large financial transactions but also the electronic filing of personal financial disclosures. Importantly, Quigley’s legislation mandates that the reports be made available in a searchable, sortable, downloadable, and machine-readable format — processes that will allow for the most meaningful access and digestion of the critical information contained within the filings.

Sheila Krumholz is the Center for Responsive Politics' executive director, serving as the organization's chief administrator, the liaison to its board and major funders and its primary spokesperson. Sheila became executive director in 2006, having served for eight years as the Center's research director, supervising data analysis for OpenSecrets.org and the Center's clients. She first joined the Center in 1989, serving as assistant editor of the very first edition of Open Secrets, the Center's flagship publication. In 2010, Fast Company magazine named Sheila to its "Most Influential Women in Technology" list. Sheila has a degree in international relations and political science from the University of Minnesota.

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